Oh awesome! The same tired narratives are back! Thank goodness there was too much positivity in here - felt weird. Just inject some more good old fashioned bigotry into the mix and it will feel normal again.
My impression is that, while your current players shouldn't be a factor on your draft pick, Wood was a factor to not draft Mobley but KPJ was not a factor to not draft Green. Still, the main reasons to draft Green over Mobley were probably 2: - On one hand, the marketing aura around Jalen. (Public exposure and money for the franchise) - In basketball terms, the franchise, like many experts, thought that the biggest difference between Mobley and Green was the capacity of the 2nd one to become an alpha dog/go-to-guy over the first. Everybody knew and knows that Mobley will become a phenomenal 2-way player, but generally the experts thought that Jalen Green's character and personality were (are) more prepared to become the face of a franchise. Once you draft Green, and knowing that Porter may not be the best fit as a backourt partner, you spend his first 2 years of inevitable adaptation to develop both of them and then make a decision on Porter's future.
Those 2 main reasons were poor basketball reasons. Stone ignored his scouting AND analytics teams when he made that pick.
I don't know... Easy answer is yes, but maybe exposes his weaknesses in a cruder way at the moment he's least prepared to deal with them? Depending how you look at it, there's a point to think that you're testing his mental toughness and his response to struggle, also putting that chip on his shoulder early on his career. If Green is not good enough phisically, at shooting, defense, handles... he would be too regardless of his backourt partner, right? The process like this just makes it harder for the fans to believe in the player and harder for the player to start his professional career, but we will have to wait for the results, I guess.
Fair enough - for me I want to see that the org is making CLEAR progress and has a plan, and right now it looks like toss a bunch of darts at once and hope one of them hits. I agree, so I am guessing you would jettison KPJ and develop Green? Whereas I would jettison Green and develop KPJ. In the end, I think they will be forced to make a choice...... DD
That is what you get for trying to fit an SF and an SG into the PG role, you would need an actual point guard. Damn those combo guards.
6'4" is too short to be a small forward, and neither are great at catch and shoot, would prefer a Battier type, or Ariza, or maybe even a Robert Horry(Mobley)...... I don't think you need an actual PG anymore - there are tons of examples of teams winning without a true PG, but you do need complimentary pieces - and we are a mess at the moment. Although if you like PG play, Nix is making some noises and he is only 19 too. DD
You would not jettison anyone if one of them agrees to come off the pine willingly and without pouting.
Completely disagree on the redundancy. Green was thought to be an off ball scorer who could shoot the 3 and create for himself. At least predraft no one was talking about him as a playmaker we knew that was a weakness or at least wasn’t developed. Problem is he hasn’t shot it well this season but that’s not unusual for a rookie still acclimating to the speed and strength of the pro game. He shot the 3 well last year and his FT % is fine. His numbers will get better. Also the screens set for him by Wood are pointless he never gets a clean look. I’m encouraged that he is driving more and getting foul calls but one strength the absolute great 2 guards had was the ability to zip to the basket and then pull up for that midrange shot. Green’s first step is great but he needs to develop that pull up jumper.
Something tells me next year's JG4 experience is going to be light years ahead of this JG0 business. I'm excited to see Jalen step up his play over the second half of the season, but I'm even more stoked to see the leaps his game takes in the off-season. That goes for all the rookies. #DarkMode #FreeSenGod
I might be wrong on this but IMO Porter Jr is not skilled enough for the big teams and a ticking time bomb. I mean he might become a borderline allstar shooting a lot, I just do not like the touches he is getting at the moment. Should go to Green and others. Yes, this is a mess.
The clueless Cavs can make THREE big lineup into a playoff contender but the ridiculous Rockets can NOT even field 2 combo guards without a train wreck waiting to happen. Should have been anticipated considering Rockets cannot even run a traditional 2 big lineup to save their lives. A lineup that EVERY other franchise has no problem doing with even a modicum of success.
NEWSFLASH!!!!!!! Rockets players aged 21 and 19 need more time to develop!!! Its breaking news Jim we'll be back at 5 with more details!!!
The Rockets don't have 2 combo guards though. They have a combo guard and a pure SG who can't shoot or defend.
Thanks so much for your valuable contribution to this discussion, keep on keeping on.......your contributions here are beyond reproach, and make this board and it's discussions a better place. Well done.....now you got the attention you wanted by posting 3 memes without anything else to add - good boy! DD
